More than four years after the Camp Fire ravaged the town, Paradise is still recovering–but a strong community is creating new foundations as they work to rebuild the city.
Courtesy of Explore Butte County
A beautiful new downtown is taking shape in Paradise, California. It’s going to be more walkable than before, with new businesses lining the streets. Colette Curtis, a resident of 14 years and the current Director for Economic Development and Recovery for the town, hopes that Paradise becomes a town that draws visitors from all over the region, tempting them with charming food, culture, and beautiful natural spaces.
For the residents of Paradise, four years ago this dream would have seemed an impossibility. In November 2018, a faulty cable hook on an electrical tower had started a fire that, in only a matter of hours, consumed the towns of Paradise and Concow.
Owen Brown, a sophomore at Stanford University, was in his second year at Paradise High when the fire burned. He evacuated that day along with Curtis and other Paradise residents. Brown’s parents had bought their dream home just a year before; after the fire, all that was left were ceramic Christmas ornaments that the family had collected over the years.
After it was all over, the Camp Fire had destroyed 90% of the homes in Paradise. Families returned to images of blackened husks where homes once stood. The immediate recovery process was difficult; families sifted through ruins for any surviving materials, while most residents whose homes were destroyed took shelter with friends and family or in nearby cities like Chico. The town government was focused on clearing the rubble and repairing the basic necessities; roads, water access, and communication.
The public high school had mostly survived, but the burned debris remained, making it a hazardous space. Until it was safe to reenter, Brown attended virtual school, then took classes in an abandoned office building near the Chico Airport. He fell behind in classes, and he worried about his academic goals. “As someone who had aspirations to go somewhere like here [Stanford] for college, it was definitely tough…it was just not a conducive environment for learning”, he says.
Families had to live with friends or in tents and trailers while FEMA and other agencies delivered aid. Some families, with nothing left tying them to the town, moved away. Brown’s own family moved to Chico. Others stayed, like Curtis, whose home barely survived the conflagration.
Courtesy of CAL OES via Flickr
These fires, and the destruction they bring, have increased in recent years. 9 of the 10 largest wildfires in California history have occurred in the past decade. These megafires are caused by a combination of hot and dry conditions, heavy fuel loads, and human activity combining to result in catastrophic damage to towns and cities up and down the state. In the aftermath of these fires, these communities face a long journey to recover–”decades long”, in Curtis’s words.
More than four years after the fire, recovery is still ongoing in Paradise. Curtis and Brown both note the issue of tree removal as a long-term challenge. They also note the issue of infrastructure and compensation as preventing full recovery for the town.
Paradise was known for its trees; the tens of thousands that filled the town gave it a unique verdant beauty. What was a blessing turned out also to be a curse–the trees provided ample fuel for the fire, part of the reason the destruction was so widespread.
After the fire, many of these hundred-foot tall trees were left standing with their roots burned, posing dangers for rebuilding. “People don't want to build a brand new home just to have trees fall on top of that and crush it”, Curtis says.
Rebuilding is also a financial challenge, one that’s not improved by the slow distribution of compensation for losses from the fire. Brown mentions that he “knew a decent amount of people who are renters and they did not have renters insurance, so they got nothing” after the fire.
The lack of insurance is compounded by the slow payment of the lawsuit money that residents are supposed to receive from PG&E. The massive electricity utility filed for bankruptcy following the fire, with estimated liabilities from the fire around $30 billion. PG&E agreed as part of the bankruptcy case to pay $13.5 billion dollars to the victims of certain fires from 2015-2018, including the Camp Fire.
What residents needed after the fire, and what they still need now, is a lump sum payment to secure their housing situations, according to Brown. Instead, PG&E have delivered it in installments: “Here's 10%. Here's another 15%. So they've been sending it in multiple waves because they're still figuring out how to pay it”, he says.
These financial issues are a huge challenge for long-term recovery, especially with regards to housing. Many who chose to stay in Paradise have rebuilt their homes, but Brown knows people who are still living in the trailers they moved into after the fire, with no means to secure their housing situation, four years after the fire.
There are more long-term challenges to recovery–ongoing barriers that slow, but don’t stop, progress in Paradise. The roads, for example, are constantly under construction. The roads were destroyed by fire damage and subsequent heavy equipment use, but the town decided not to repave them until PG&E finished putting their cables underground as part of a new policy to reduce fire risk in the town. Internet companies like Comcast have started doing the same, resulting in constant construction on the roads.
Even though the construction is on schedule, Curtis mentions that “there is a lot of frustration and it is a long term issue for people who live here, who are driving on these roads that are still absolutely, terribly damaged even four years later”.
However, these barriers simply present opportunities for success, Curtis points out. “And so every success, you know, it starts out as an obstacle, [then] becomes a success.”
One success story she’s particularly proud of is the adaptation of the FEMA debris removal policy to solve the tree problem. The town of Paradise kept pushing for standing trees to be included in debris removal, and after a year and a half of insistence, FEMA created a new program that included removal of trees that would fall on public or private roads in the 5 years after a natural disaster.
While it didn’t account for all trees, this was a huge victory considering the sheer number of that Paradise had to deal with. It wasn’t just a victory for Paradise, either. Two years after the Camp Fire, the North Complex Fire burned close to Paradise. This time, FEMA changed their policy and included trees in their debris removal program for the towns that were affected.
Paradise had changed federal policy–and helped thousands of people around the state and the country address the problem of removing standing trees.
The community of Paradise is much of the reason for its resilience and success. After the fire, those who stayed were faced with the unimaginable task of rebuilding everything. This mutual struggle united people, as Brown notes, “And now anytime I meet somebody from Paradise, there's just, like a mutual respect there”. Curtis sees the same, saying, “There is such a strong community spirit to rebuild, to come back home and to be positive”.
Courtesy of Paradise Recreation & Parks District
And it isn’t just long-time Paradisers who are contributing. With a steady influx of new families moving in, Curtis sees a new Paradise in the future: “We also have a significant population of new people coming into Paradise who did not live here before, but are interested in being part of this and part of building a community from the ground up…it's been really interesting to see those communities come together and it's really welcoming. It's been wonderful actually”.
There are so many more successes that Curtis and Brown both hope to draw more people to Paradise in the coming years. In late 2021, the city had the most well tested water in the US, with water 10 times clearer than the California standard. The city, formerly the largest in the US without a sewer system, is now building one, something Brown hopes will attract more businesses to the city. In late 2021, more than 350 businesses were already open, and with the influx of people, Paradise was one of the fastest growing towns in California.
The fire changed the lives of so many. Since the fire, Curtis has felt called to her job more than ever; “I feel like I am where I'm supposed to be. And you know, I wouldn't want to do anything else. I'm really committed to this and seeing this recovery through as long as possible.” Brown’s interest in his college studies shifted from aero- and astronautics to earth systems and environmental policy. “The fire really helped create purpose for me because l was interested in aero/astro because I liked it, but not because I felt like I needed to do it. In terms of earth systems, it's something I feel like I need to do. I think it's the biggest problem we face as humanity”, he says.
Everyone who lives in the town has a dream for what Paradise can be. Curtis hopes for a welcoming and inclusive community, one that looks more diverse, inclusive, and has something for everyone. Brown wants to return to the town and go into politics, and he wants his kids to be able to go to Paradise High School just as he did.
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Henry Lai is an Earth Systems undergraduate student in his third year at Stanford. He is passionate about food and water access issues, and community-based responses to environmental issues. Henry is relatively new to journalism but has always enjoyed hearing people’s stories about what matters to them. He has lived his whole life in the Bay Area, and enjoys hiking, climbing, and exploring the incredible diversity of food cultures in the area.
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